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In This Issue
Furniture Brands Agrees to De-list from NYSE
Explosion at Wood Pellet Plant
Curran Renewable Energy Now Certified Under PFI Standards Program

Furniture Brands Agrees to De-list from NYSE

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

 

By Furniture Today Staff 

 

Furniture Brands International (FBI) has agreed to voluntarily delist its common stock from the New York Stock Exchange after determining it will not be able to meet the NYSE's continued listing criteria.

The criteria require that the company maintain an average market capitalization not less than $50 million over a consecutive 30-day period. It also requires the company to maintain total stockholder equity of more than $50 million.

Market capitalization is determined by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the company's stock price. The company said its last day of trading of its common stock on the NYSE will be on or about August 27. The next trading day, it will begin trading on the OTCQB.

According to investment website Investopedia, the OTCQB is a middle tier of the three marketplaces for trading over-the-counter stocks that is operated by the OTC Markets Group.

FBI was notified on July 10 that it faced a delisting on the NYSE. On July 15, the company said it intended to file a business plan within 45 days outlining how it was going to comply with the listing criteria within an 18-month period allowed by the NYSE.

Since then, the company's market capitalization has fallen below $15 million and the company has informed the NYSE it will not be submitting such a business plan. This is the second time in the past year the company has been threatened with a delisting on the NYSE. It received such a notification this past December because its stock price had fallen below $1 for a 30-day consecutive trading period.

In late May, Furniture Brands enacted a 1-for-7 reverse stock split partly to keeps its per share price above $1 and preserve its listing with the NYSE.

Following the split, the price briefly approached $7, but it has been in steady decline. The stock closed today at $0.73.

Companies under the Furniture Brands International corporate umbrella are as follows: Lane Venture, Lane Furniture, Henredon, Drexel Heritage, Broyhill, Hickory, Thomasville, La Barge, Pearson and Maitland-Smith.

 

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Inferno_Wood_Pellet_Factory
Mary Murphy/The Providence Journal.

Explosion at Wood Pellet Plant

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

 

From the Providence Journal   

 

Federal workplace safety officials are continuing an investigation into the explosion that caused a four-alarm fire at the Inferno Wood Pellet factory on Ferris Avenue on Tuesday. 

 

The city's fire chief, Oscar Elmasian, said fire officials have completed their investigation as to the cause of the accident, but said he preferred that the findings be officially released by the state fire marshal, whose office was already closed for the day Thursday. 

 

Elmasian said that as with any large industrial complex, the Fire Department has visited the factory before, but most fires have been relatively routine. Whatever fires that have taken place there in the past, the chief said, have been small fires that were confined to the machinery itself, due to its being hooked up to fire suppression systems. 

 

John P. Ferreira, president and one of the principal owners of the company, said through his lawyer, Eric Brainsky, that it is a credit to the way that the company protects its workers that only one person was injured in Tuesday's incident. The person suffered first- and second-degree burns. The factory typically has 20 workers and, according to Ferreira, is likely to be shut down for a few weeks. 

 

Patrick Griffin, head of the Rhode Island field office for the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration, which is investigating the workplace conditions at the factory, said the explosion reminded him of one that heavily damaged the New England Wood Pellet factory in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in January 2008. That investigation led OSHA to conclude that the company had not taken adequate steps to protect its employees from wood-dust explosions and other fire hazards. OSHA fined the company $135,000.  

- Richard C. Dujardin

 

Curran Renewable Energy

Now Certified Under PFI Standards Program

MASSENA, NEW YORK

 

From North Country Now

 

Curran Renewable Energy is the second wood fuel pellet mill in the United States that is certified under the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) for premium grade wood pellets. 

 

Curran is "very proud of this distinction," according to a news release.  

 

A stamp from the Pellet Fuels Institute will be seen on the company's wood pellet bags very soon. The PFI sets a quality standard for fuel wood pellets in the United States, certifying that the pellets meet the grade requirements for premium wood pellets. 

 

The PFI performs rigorous testing to assure all pellets are in compliance, and the pellets have been tested to deliver 7,900 Btus per pound. 

 

To clarify the pellet quality standards in the United States, view the PFI's Fuel Table by visiting the website.